little attention to the flying terns but 

 were seen on several occasions to pounce 

 upon a sitting bird and bear it off. 



In its habits the Short-eared Owl is 

 quite unlike nearly all the other Owls 

 which frequent the United States. It is 

 not near as nocturnal and shuns tim- 

 bered regions, frequenting open regions 

 where it makes its house in areas cov- 

 ered with rank growth of herbaceous 



plants. Its nest is a rough loose struc- 

 ture built of sticks and coarse grass and 

 slightly lined with finer grass and feath- 

 ers. The nest is usually placed on the 

 ground where it is well hidden by 

 tall bunches of grass or bushes. In a 

 few instances nests have been found 

 slightly elevated above the ground in 

 the bases of clumps of low bushes. 



Frank Morley Woodruff. 



PLANT STUDIES 



PART I, A FEW SECRETS OF SEEDS 



The scarlet maple keys betray 

 What potent blood hath modest May, 

 What fiery force the earth renews, 

 The wealth of forms, the flash of hues. 



— Emerson, "May-Day. 



When May comes, or even a month 

 earlier, let us take a long walk and look 

 for the seeds that have begun to sprout 

 after the warm spring rains. Warmth 

 and moisture are the two conditions 

 most essential to the germination or 

 sprouting, so that now, all the seeds that 

 have been waiting during the winter, are 

 ready to start into active growth. Un- 

 der a sugar maple we will probably find 

 thousands of seeds that have fallen to 

 the ground in autumn. They are burst- 

 ing out of their coats, or perhaps already 

 are well started seedlings. 



Let us examine a seed that has not yet 

 begun to sprout. Notice the covering 

 on the outside, the testa — a little later 

 we will think what this is for. Split 

 open the testa and take out the seed 

 curled up within is a tiny plant, the em- 

 bryo, consisting of two long seed leaves, 

 cotyledons, and a short stem or caulicle. 

 In between the cotyledons is a tiny bud, 

 the plumule, which soon develops into a 

 pair of leaves. The cotyledons, can 

 hardly be considered leaves and some 

 times do not appear above ground, or 

 when they do, soon wither. If possible, 

 imagine how many seeds there are! If 



all of them were to grow, in a short time 

 the whole earth would be covered. Just 

 one little plant of the shepherd's purse, 

 Capsella, produces 12,000 seeds and one 

 of the purslanes, 40,000. What becomes 

 of all these seeds, and why is it neces- 

 sary that there should be so very many? 

 It is plain that most of them die, either 

 while they are seeds or after they have 

 become seedlings for they have many 

 enemies. 



The first enemy is bad weather; that 

 is, so much moisture that the seed is 

 rotted. Now we can understand the 

 purpose of the testa, for it protects the 

 seed and keeps It dry and warm. Some 

 times the testa has a polished surface 

 which still better keeps out the water, 

 as in the case of the castor bean; as it 

 is covered with hairs, which protect the 

 seed from water or from penetrating 

 germs. 



Lack of nourishment is often fatal to 

 seeds. In the examination of the em- 

 bryo we found the cotyledons fat or 

 thick, for they were filled with food for 

 the young plant. In case of need, they 

 serve to keep the plant alive until all the 

 reserve material is exhausted, when usu- 



36 



